Sri Lanka Speaker and legislators to disregard court notices to appear for Chief Justice's petition

The Speaker of Sri Lanka's parliament and the legislators of the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) that probed the impeachment motion of the Chief Justice will adhere to an earlier ruling by the Speaker and not appear in the court in response to a notice issued by the court. The Appellate Court of Sri Lanka Friday issued a notice to the Speaker, 11 members of the PSC and the parliament secretary to appear before the court on January 3, 2013 in regard to a petition filed by the embattled Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake challenging the PSC decision to impeach her. The Deputy Speaker Chandima Weerakkody has said that Parliament will follow the course with regard to the notices issued on the Impeachment Special Committee based on the ruling given by the Speaker last month. Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa last month said the notices issued on him and on members of the PSC by the Supreme Court have no effect and are not recognized in any manner, adding that future notices from court will be treated similarly according to Clause Nine of Parliamentary Privileges. "No person, or institution outside Parliament has any authority whatsoever to issue any directive either to me as Speaker or to Members of the Committee appointed by me. This is a matter which falls exclusively within the purview of Parliament's authority," he said last month when the Supreme Court issued notice summoning him and the PSC. According to the parliamentary procedures, the PSC has been appointed to investigate the impeachment against the Chief Justice based on the powers vested under the Constitution and its members are therefore responsible to him as the Speaker and not to any external party, Rajapaksa has said. The Speaker has referred his decision to an earlier instance where the former Speaker Anura Bandaranaike has set the precedent that the judiciary has no authority to influence affairs of the Parliament. The Deputy Speaker has told the state-run television ITN that former Speaker Anura Bandaranaike gave a ruling on a similar situation and the former Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva had accepted this historic ruling. Under these circumstances, Deputy Speaker Chandima Weerakkody has said that they would adhere to the decision given by the Speaker last month with respect to the notices issued today against the PSC. The Deputy Speaker has noted that the judiciary need to be aware of such decisions and pointed out that the legal situation is very clear as mentioned by the Speaker.